Frozen Memories
by greyzone
Summary: at the end of "I remember you" Marceline gets a lot of information dumped on her, so what to do now?
1. Aftermath

Aftermath

The song ended.

Setting her bass down Marceline looked to the aged king not sure what to say "Simon... I don't-... oh glob... I mean."

The Ice king looked back at her but not with eyes of familiarity as the vampire queen hoped. Just a blank childlike stare and a gleeful grin full of shark's teeth from behind his drum set. "Wow, now that's what I call a jam sess."

Marceline's mouth just hung agape. "Seriously? You come here with all these papers and clippings, we did that song and still nothing?!" She yelled frustrated by the fact that she had only just learned about the negative effects of the crown.

"What do you mean?" The king tilted his head; he couldn't understand what was making her so upset.

"You brought them _because_ they meant something. Didn't you?" she asked desperately looking for some sliver of her oldest friend. She felt that she was closer to having him back than she ever did before.

He walked out from behind his drums with his blue bony hands up defensively. "Hey now, I think you're looking way too much into those old things. They're just words on old clippings from my scrapbook." He lied. Honestly he did feel some attachment to the clippings when he found them but it felt no more significant than a dream... without the cosmic owl that is.

"Wait, scrapbook?" she pondered the implications of there being physical proof of his memories silently. Feeling somewhat awkward with all the tension in the air the ice king decided it would be best to leave.

Marceline grew confused as she watched the old man started to pack his things. "You're leaving? Now?" She held her hands to the top of her head almost temped to pull her hair out due to frustration.

The king tied his drum set and old keyboard to his back. "Yeah it looks like you got some stuff happening here" he said awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. "And I'm the Ice king not a drama queen OkaAay~." He said in a tone jokingly similar to the Lumpy Space Princess.

'Is he even capable of taking anything seriously anymore?' Marceline thought as a familiar sadness started to drown her heart. 'Is it even the crown doing this or is it just that he doesn't care about me anymore. First my own dad and now him, is it me? Am I to blame for being forgotten somehow?' Her face burned red as she began to sob.

The ice king grinned to Marceline but it fell as soon as he noticed the tears started to fall to the carpet. It resonated inside him, like an echo in a cave he had long forgot about.

He's the king infamous for kidnapping every princess in Ooo he could get his hands on but no matter what he did or how he did, he **never **made a signal one cry. Yet she was and he didn't know why or what the appropriate thing to do was.

To her surprise and the relief from the depression she felt trying to come to terms with losing her friend yet again, she found herself in another embrace. This one was different from the last, the last one was full of uncertainty over the meaning but this hug was familiar as well as simple; she was crying and he wanted to her to stop.

She buried her tears into his long, oddly absorbent, beard embarrassed by her breakdown but more ashamed that she let such a dear friend loose so much of himself and not help. She always thought that he was just a few pages short of a book but instead he was just an old man who was falling apart at the seams with no one to help.

Looking up to his face, her heart fell at his blank expression. It was like all that he was doing was the appropriate to do but he felt nothing and more tears fell.

Then something else happened that surprised Marceline. An ice cold gentle cyan hand came up to her crimson cheek wiping away the tears. Marceline watched his eyes in stunned silence as they studied his hand, like it had just moved independently from the rest of him. The ice king released her from the hug guiding her to her couch, gently sitting her down.

"Well I'll be going now" he grinned awkwardly, pointing both thumbs to the door "If you want to... umm come by later I'll probably have kidnapped princess over for you to talk to about... umm girl stuff?" he half joked confused over what happened.

"Just go you crazy jerk." She growled at him while hugging a pillow annoyed at his obliviousness but she had to admit even with his messed up mind he was still more sensitive to her than her own father.

"Hey that's just hurtful." the Ice king weakly defended before getting a face full of pillow, he grunted as he walked out of the door. Only to be stopped by his drum set and keyboard tied to his back that clashed against the frame.

"_Clash"_

"Oh jeez"

"_Clash"_

"For the love of Glob, come on"

"_Clash"_

"How did I even get in here in the first place?!" he shouted in frustration in the same sense as an old man getting angry at an overly complicated piece of technology.

"Will you leave already?!" Marceline yelled. She used to find his bumbling funny when she was a kid but now it was just really annoying.

"I'm trying!" the king whined pitifully wiggling his arms in the air like a tortoise stuck on its back.

Marceline grunted irritated. She just wanted the night to be over but that would mean she'll have to help the crazy king. Getting up, she marched over and examined the jam the king got himself in.

"Right when I count to 3, you pull and I push" Marceline instructed bracing herself against the drums.

"Gotcha" the king agreed holding a thumbs up above his head for her to see.

"Good... 1... 2... thre-"

"Wait wait wait!" Ice king interrupted waving his arms in the air urgently.

"Huh? What's wrong?" she asked worried that something might have happened to him.

"Did you mean on 3 or after 3?" he asked innocently unaware that a red faced vampire queen was grinding her teeth at his silliness.

Of course it was 5 seconds till the ice king heard a very angry "Vampire Kick!" Suddenly flying through the air unaided by his snowy beard but it did make for a softer face-plant in the hard cave floor.

"Ouchies" the king whimpered picking himself up and rubbing his kicked butt, thankfully he wore bandages as underwear _because_ he got his butt kick so often. He felt like such a genius when he thought of that one.

He turned around to see Marceline scowling at him from her dented door way. He smiled nervously and waved. "Well I had a great time jamming out with you, lets-" she slammed the door hard enough to crack the wall around the door frame. "- hang some more, some time."

He scratched his stomach idly as he stared at the door not noticing Finn and Jake staring at him.

"Hmm J. T. Dawgzone was right, some ladies _are_ "straight tripping yo" " he huffed to himself before flapping his magical beard and flying away.


	2. The explan- oh no wait toilet break

The explan- oh no wait... toilet break

"Ok seriously dude, what da florp?" Jake the deeply confused magical dog asked his equally confused adopted human brother Finn.

"I dunno bro, should we ask Marceline?" Finn turned to Jake sharing each other's dumbfounded look.

"I guess it can't hurt." Jake shrugged not seeing the harm in talking to a clearly emotional vampire queen about the subject that had put in her that state.

Meanwhile Marceline leant against her door contemplating on all the information she had just learned. She remembered that he had littered her floors with random scraps of paper, sighing while walking to them with her emotionally exhausted body.

She slumped down picking the papers up, most were just junk but she focused on the newspaper clipping of Simon as he was before she knew him.

"Oh Simon" she sighed smelling the tears that have long since dried into the paper "why didn't you tell me you old jerk. I could've at least tried to help." She said wondering if there was a way she could punch the guy in the picture.

A knock at her gave Marceline a slim hope that she might get that chance though she doubted that even the Ice king was crazy enough to pester a demonic vampire on a bad day. She set the papers on the coffee table before she collected herself. It didn't matter who was at the door she didn't want anyone to see her weaker side.

She casually floated to the door honestly half expecting it to be the Ice king with some half baked excuse. 'It's not like it would be the first time.' She thought to herself remembering the time when he visited her in the fire kingdom claiming that his air conditioner broke and his ice castle was too hot for him.

It took her half a day and her favourite flame resistant wig to convince him that the fire kingdom was indeed hotter than the ice castle no matter the conditioning conditions.

Opening the door she was relieved and annoyed to be greeted by the two clueless faces of her newest friends an energetic teenager and optimistic dog. Both were good company and their naivety made them fun to mess with occasionally but they weren't too good when it came to the complicated emotional stuff.

"Hey Marceline" Finn greeted

"Yo Marceline" Jake added

"Hey guys, you came back huh? Well Si- I mean the ice king just left and I don't feel much like jamming anymore for the day." Marceline said letting herself droop a little just so they'll realise she's not in the best of moods.

Finn guiltily rubbed the back of his neck "yeah we saw him leave." Finn continued despite Jakes desperate hand waving for him to stop talking. "We've kinda been watching you and we saw the wh-"

He was stopped mid-word by a vampirric death grip of his and his brother's throat.

"WHAT? YOU GUYS WERE SPYING ON ME?!" Marceline hissed dropping the veil completely as her face warped into that of a demonic beast with her hair swimming in a private wind.

Jake immediately thinned and stretched his neck out so he could talk clearly to the angry friend "Whoa there Marceline, we only spied because we were worried that the Ice king might try something." He justified defensively as his best friend turned a bad shade of purple.

"Fine" Marceline huffed letting the two down. She couldn't completely blame the two for watching out for her and for doing something that was coincidentally one of her favourite ways of messing with them.

"...thanks..." Finn grasped for air like a fish out of water while Jake patted his back.

"You guys might as well come in" she gestured floating back to the couch still in an irritated mood, dreading the inevitable questions.

The guys looked at each other as they walked in feeling more awkward in Marceline's home than they ever have.

"So... the ice king..." Finn started unsure how to continue or end while Jake's eyes wondered to the coffee table. "Hey look it's Simon" the dog smiled stretching out to pick up the newspaper clipping to show Finn.

"Hey don't touch- wait, hold up, you two know Simon?" she looked at them stunned. Finn took a quick look at the picture to remind him. "Hey yeah, that's the guy the ice king was before the crown completely gan-flewgle-florped his mind." Finn said twirling his finger to the side of his head not knowing what the information meant the Marceline.

"And you guys have been beating him up even after you knew?" She asked as her mind felt close to exploding again.

"Well we have been taking it easy on him lately" Finn shrugged. "Yeah and after the videos it just started to feel like hitting some crazy old dude and that ain't what heroes do." Jake said crossing his arms sternly.

"But that's exactly what it is, you guys _have _been "hitting some crazy old dude" who, yeah ok, pretty much asks for it sometimes but still." Marceline defended Simon though after all this time she wasn't quite sure why.

"Hey crazy old dude or not, the guy still flies around kidnapping princess most of the time" Finn argued back defending his own sense of right and wrong.

Marceline stared at the teenager angrily then sighed as she ran her hands through her hair letting the pent up anger go. "Yeah I know" she grunted "it's just you don't know the Ice King or Simon like I used to."

"So why don't you tell us?" Finn simply suggested putting a hand on her cold shoulder.

"Hey yeah Marceline you never know how much getting something like that of your chest can help." Jake nodded munching an apple he found on the floor. "Like this one time where I was wearing this heavy metal chest armour when I confessed about eating all the sandwiches for the picnic. Woo, that was a load off."

Marceline had to admit that the yellow dog did have a point, a confusing one full of apple chunks but a point none the less.

"Ok I'll tell but both of you have to promise not to tell **anyone** specially Bonnibel." She narrowed her eyes at Finn and Jake.

"We promise." The pair responded simultaneously by putting their right hands in the air as if they were pledging an oath.

The vampire looked at the boys still not quite sure if these two could handle her past without freaking out but to her the ship had already sailed. She knew if she didn't explain it to them, they won't stop asking questions until she snaps and loose a worthwhile friendship.

'Wouldn't be the first time' Marceline thought once again this time thinking back to a certain princess she liked to hang out and go to concerts with.

"You better make yourselves comfortable, this is gonna be long one." She said floating off the sofa and crossing her legs in midair before noticing Jake's arm in the air. "What?" she asked a little irritated.

"Will there be bathroom breaks?"

"...**no**"

"So..."

"Upstairs second door on the left"

"Thanks" Jake smiled walking up the stairs. Watching him go, Marceline turned to Finn who was just standing there with an awkward blank expression. "You need to go don't you?" She stared at him half temped to attempt to scare it out of him but decided against having to deal with the carpet stain.

Finn nodded as quietly as he could manage.

Marceline sighed heavily, slouching her body posture while wishing for something to repeatedly bang her head against. "Just go" she growled.


	3. ok now the explanation

... ok now the explanation

"Done?" Marceline stared at them from her seating place in the air ready to punch them if they didn't give her the only correct answer.

They nodded together feeling a little threatened by the vampire queen but then again they felt like that since they first entered.

"Good answer" she relaxed as she closed her eyes collecting her memories. "I guess the first thing you guys need to know is that I wasn't always Marceline the vampire queen.

"See a long time ago, somewhere near the beginning of the not-so-great Mushroom war, I was just Marceline the half-demon spawn, I was raised by my mom and I only saw my dad like once a year. If I was lucky it was on my birthday and if I was luckier he would've remembered.

"Though he did always make sure she had way more than enough for both of us, as much good that did her when everything started to go wrong. We were shopping in one of the few towns not yet touched by the war when it all started to happen. I remember that I was practically dragging my mom to this small toy shop I always used to love as a kid.

"Then I heard the explosions, they weren't close at first but that quickly changed. To this day I'm still not sure whether it was bombs, tanks, missiles, planes or whatever. To a kid, a falling building is a falling building you know?

"Anyway at some point in the chaos we got separated and I never saw her again." She paused, for her remembering back wasn't exactly painful for her anymore but was way more personal than she was used to.

"Marceline I'm so-" Finn started but was interrupted by a stern "Don't Finn, just don't." Marceline sighed before noticing that Jake was dripping out of every face-hole with some sad themed goo even something out of the ears.

"Can I get you a tissue or something?"

"N-no thanks, it's cool" the emotional dog sniffled before taking a tissue from Finn's backpack, blowing all his face drippings out on it and putting it back in the backpack.

"Aww dude! Gross man!" the boy pulled away disgusted but his attention was pulled back to Marceline with a heavy throat clearing.

"So to continue." She growled making the pair settle back down immediately. "I, at that point a 6 year old kid, was alone at the middle of the mushroom war. Frightened, confused and crying. I didn't know where to go so I just stood there sobbing away. Then he showed up. Simon, only he looked a lot different than he does in the picture but he wasn't as he is now. Kind of like the Ice king wearing Simons clothes but with a smaller nose, glasses and less hair in general.

"It might have been because I was too busy crying at the time but he just seemed to come out of nowhere. Without saying a word he dropped his bag, came to me, leant down and just smiled all warm and stuff as he wiped away my tears. Then he walked away, at first I thought he was going to abandon me without a reason and I could feel myself starting to cry again.

"But he came back with this weird red bear that I could tell instantly was from that toy shop I used to love. For that one moment I didn't feel frightened or alone. I was just happy to have found this kind old man who smelled like dusty books and having Hambo helped." She smiled remembering her lost toy.

"For a long time it was just me and him wondering through the war and avoiding the Lich as he destroyed stuff. Sure we had our share of arguments which ended with me saying I hated him and that he's not my friend anymore more times than I would have liked.

"But Simon never took it to heart and always understood that whatever I said was just a heat of the moment type of thing. So no matter what I said or where I ran away to, he found me, made sure I had food and somewhere to sleep.

"Wait... come to think of it some of those times I can't remember seeing him do either of those things." 'What didn't you hide from me you insane old man?' Marceline thought as she thought back to her past with a new light though she still continued with her story.

"To help me sleep, he would even make up stories about some princess he never named and this was before most of them even existed. Though he would go off on his own a couple of times telling me to stay at whatever house we found at the time but it was never for long.

"Sometimes he would forget my or even his own name and start shouting at me or just at random objects for no reason. When he snapped out of it he always told me it was a joke and he just had a bad sense of humour or a bad memory.

"It always annoyed me when he acted all crazy because I hated it when he wasn't being him, you know? But now..." she face-palmed herself "oh Glorp, I just realised it was never an act."

Marceline shook with anger with the ice king for keeping her in the dark for so long but if she was honest with herself it was more at her for not noticing a friend in need. 'Was I really that self-centred?'

She started to turn red as her explanation started to turn into a full on rant. "Did you know that I even got turned into a florping vampire because of him? Yeah, my dad told me that the crown was turning Simon immortal and me; being half mortal meant that I was eventually going to leave him all along by dying!

"Ok, sure it was going to take longer than other mortals but sill. All on the same stupid day he ate my fries. So later on my 21st birthday he took me to see an old "friend" of his who owed him a favour, some ancient vampire count who hated his "overused" name.

"By the end of it dad gave me the family axe and said "congratulations on becoming a full demon" that's right, my dad didn't care about Simon or how I felt. He just used my feelings to make me immortal to awaken all my demonic powers so I could rule the Nightosphere someday. But I showed him, making the family axe into my sweet bass" she smirked at the memory of annoying Huson.

"The whole thing took like a year to teach me how to use the powers, which isn't much for an immortal demon but still, I hated leaving Simon on his own like that. He's a crazy old guy who has super ice powers so he was bound to get himself in trouble." Marceline sighed sadly knowing her most painful memory of Simon was coming.

"When I came back I knew that something happened maybe it was a feeling or maybe it was the frozen zombie people, I'm not sure. I found Simon sitting alone on a wrecked bench next to an entrance to an underground train system. I was surprise that he still had Hambo with him; see I left Hambo there because I was afraid of what my dad would say.

"Simon was really the only one I used to have to talk about personal stuff and he'll always listen, so in a way I actually trusted him more than my own father." She let a light chuckle at that sad thought of the crazy king being more trustworthy than her dad.

"But when I told him I was back, he "pretended" not to know me and was all "Ice king" this and "Ice king" that. I yelled, screamed, shouted and even begged for him to stop the joke. Saying that it wasn't funny but he never did. Then he left, leaving me and Hambo alone together.

"Being an idiot I always used to hope that one day when he was done with his joke he would find me like he does now and we'll could go back to being friends. Instead it was just one lame excuse after another and eventually I just gave up on trying."

She shrugged at the end of her story eyeing her audience of two. Finn was trying his best to hold a stiff lip with watering eyes while Jake was dripping all over her couch.


	4. Remembering couches past

"So anyway that's my story you guys. I don't like talking about it often so you better not make me repeat it and now it's your turn to explain." She instructed as the human and dog sniffled.

"Umm explain what Marceline?" Finn wondered still processing the information.

"The videos" she simply stated wanting to cut right to her point.

"Oh those" Jake spoke up "Most of them were just the ice king being, well you know; the ice king, but the last one had Simon before the crown jacked him up bad."

The vampire queen floated closer to the couch looking down into the eyes of the two intensely. "Guys. Where. Are. The. Videos. Now?"

Jake and Finn gulped simultaneously as they talked in nervously tangled sentences. "Err... well we kinda..." "sorta... gave them back..." "to the ice king"

"You gave the videos that could be used to fix the ice king to a crazy old guy who spends most his time talking to penguins like kids." To be fair she did have a point. It would not surprise anyone all of Ooo to find pictures of the ice king's penguins dressed in various regarding costumes.

"No, we're pretty sure it was the ice king" Jake stated as Marceline's joke flew over his head much to her irritation.

The sound of a vampire smacking her forehead with the palm of her hand echoed throughout the cave.

"Marceline we're sorry but once we found out there weren't any evil plans or nothing then there really was nothing else we could do. It was none of our bizz ya know?" Finn reasoned again.

The queen huffed in defeat. "Yeah whatever" she hated how steadfast Finn could be to his ideals specially when questioned.

She rubbed the ridge of her nose, the day was taking more of a toll than she thought. "Listen guys sorry I'm being short with you, it's been a long day and a _lot _of stuff has happened and I'm tired. So I'm just going to call it a day."

Both Finn and Jake nodded sympathetically as they got up off the couch. "It's cool Marce we can understand." "Yeah we know how it is."

"Thanks for being cool with it." she smiled in gratitude as the pair left saying their goodbyes.

"Just let us know if we can help" Finn called before walking out of the cave.

After closing her door far more gently than last time as she focused on previously ignored memories and cleaned up her house.

She thought back to the time she and Simon had their first big fight or at least the first one she could remember. It made her so afraid that all she could do to respond was get angry. When he started shouting at her, screaming at her as if she was some monster, to her she had no other option but to run with Hambo who was missing an eye at the time.

If anyone had asked her at that time she would have said that Hambo was her only friend, however soon after she fixed his eye Simon found her once again. Apologising for his bad humour explaining that its common adult comedy and he had just forgot that she was a little girl because she was so grown up. That was all he needed to say to make her young self forget her anger.

'How could I of not seen it?' Marceline's mind asked her knowing no answer. She remembered how this would happen once a month when she first met him and at first she tried to laugh, after all she liked being treated like a grown up. But over a long period of time when the episodes became more frequent but generally quieter she just found them annoying than frightening.

After he snap out of it, Simon never let on that they were anymore than a joke just a quirk. Then he would distract her by regaling her with stories of fractions of his past. Like how back in collage when he didn't have his head in a book he would be watching terribly cheesy kung fu movies with his friends or when he was in an ill-conceived progressive rock band.

She always enjoyed listening to him; reciting his old memories just put a unique smile on the old man's face that generally made the day better. He would tell her about his friends he used to have, though it saddened him when he couldn't remember their names but he never let it show or at least he tried.

As Marceline got older and more mischievous he told her of a particular friend she reminded him of. Again he couldn't remember the name or even the gender but he did remember that they loved to harmlessly mess with others by playing mind games. Although with Simon they actually made it a personal pastime making him jump out of his skin by scaring him with Halloween masks they never got rid of.

The ice king always had moments where he did something that made Marceline think Simon was still there, inside, playing the joke. Like when he first made the ice castle and showed her the drums or his "super-cool-secrete-ninja room".

The two never really labelled their relationship. Saying it was like a father-daughter thing or even brother-sister just felt weird to Marceline. They were just friends, close friends without a doubt but still just friends, it never required much thought and that's how she liked it.

Having finished putting her house back to its previous condition, she picked up her bass and played it idly humming her most recent song. 'So what am I going to do now? What can I do? I mean florp I just found out that Simon was protecting me by making me think he was nuts before he actually was. Who the heck dose that?! Simon did, he made me hate and pity him instead of fear him.

'That crown, it's responsible for everything, me losing my friend, Simon losing himself but what am I suppose to about it?' Marceline growled infuriated with herself as both hands gripped the neck of her bass guitar and with an extra loud grunt she swung slicing the couch clean in half.

She blinked coming back to her senses, taking a look at the equal chucks of couch. Huffing her disarray strands of hair out of her face. "I swear every motherflorping time."


	5. meanwhile

Meanwhile at the easily-pregnable ice fortress of desperate-loneliness. (This part of time is actually happening at the same time as Marceline's part. I just wanted to do a superman joke.)

The ice king flew in through his triangular window not bothering to wonder how he could fit through that but not Marceline's front door. Landing on the frozen ground, he untied the cords keeping his instruments to his back letting them crash to the ground. Though he was too excited about his song to care.

The noise echoed through the castle earning the attention of the ice king's most loyal servant. As she strode with pride and honour to her master she spoke with a voice of a true warrior.

"Wenk"

The ice king turned to his ever faithful penguin with a wide grin. "Oh Gunter, there you are!"

He picked Gunter up and happily threw him up into the air catching the penguin. "I had the best time at Marceline's, we really jammed out and it ended with only one butt-kicking." In ice king standards just one hit, regardless of location, was considered the best possible outcome of any meeting.

"Though things did get... umm... something." He scratched his bearded chin thinking back to the confusing events. Marceline had always been one of the people he knew the longest, as far as he could remember she's been around for as long as he has.

He knew that out of everyone in ooo Marceline always to tolerate him the most. So he always found one genius reason after another to hang out with her, even if it meant breaking an air conditioner here and there. But it always ended the same way with her mad at him for something he never knew he did. Though he constantly had difficulty telling between dream and memory seeing how they were both just as hazy to him.

By doubting Marceline's hate for him, the ice king would always think that maybe he dreamt it. Maybe there is just one person in all of ooo who doesn't hate him completely and that gave him hope to try again.

He began thinking how his whole memory was like a long rope, the middle was fine but at the end the individual strings that made the rope started to fly out everywhere. 'Is that all I am? A fraying peice of rope? Or is it who I was that's frayed? If I tie those strings back together will I return to being the me that I was? If so what happens to the me I am n-'

"Wenk!" Gunter squawked for the ice kings attention.

"What is it Gunter?! Can't you see daddy's being all introspective and deep, questioning my very mind and who I am?" he frowned as he told the penguin off.

"Wenk"

His angry face dropped blank. "The wha?"

"Wenk"

"Oh the song! I almost completely forgot, I'm can be silly sometimes." The king giggled, grinning an enthusiastic grin.

"Gather all the penguins Gunter, I need a test audience before I sing in front of any princesses."

"Wenk." Gunter saluting before jumping out of the ice king's arms and going to fetch the others.

It didn't take long for Gunter and her fellow penguins to help the ice king down, whom within the short amount of time managed to tie himself to the ceiling of his ice cave like a piñata. Justifying it

with "this is as much your fault Gunter as it is mine"

After he set his equipment up, he grinded to the penguin audience. "All right you guys I want you to be completely honest with me. Don't be afraid about hurting daddy's feelings except you Gunter, you're mean critic."

They all squawked agreeing with their king, well except Gunter who crossed her flippers and did whatever the penguin equivalent is for "hmpf".

"Ok get ready to have your socks rocked off." The king said pausing for a moment to think to himself 'hmm maybe I should get them some penguin socks? Wait, no, what am I thinking? I'm not some crazy old penguin man, only two of those things are true.' He giggled at his silly thoughts. He stopped taking them seriously a long time ago around about the same time that they stopped sounding like his own.

"Let's see how'd it go again?" He pondered while switching the button on the keyboard making it play the last thing it recorded.

He got behind his drum set and playing to the music his enthusiasm dissipated as his doubt raised in the back of his mind other something he couldn't quite grasp getting a little frustrated by it. 'Why is it so hard to remember anything? Is my mind that far gone? How could anyone love me? Maybe I should just freeze everything.

Yeah that way I wouldn't have to remember anything because it'll be right there. Frozen, perfectly petrified in ice. I could freeze the princesses then it wouldn't matter if they loved me or not because they'll always be there at my side. Even Finn and Jake would never leave me if I froze them forever. All of ooo would be so perfect if it was frozen, no pain, no sadness and even no loneliness. Everyone would be my friend because no one but me can say they're not.

I could even freeze Marceline I'm sure she would -_NO! Not Her! Never Her!_- Hey wait a minute, I can't freeze ooo all where would I get any hot food? Bad brain, Bad! We do not think those kind of thoughts, you go to the corner of the skull and think about what you thought, I don't want to hear another peep out of you mister.'

Looking at the sea of blank penguin faces, the ice king wondering what he was about to do before looking down at his drum set. "Oh yeah!" he cleared his throat as he started singing while hoping his memory comes through for him.

It didn't

"Marceline  
Is it just you and me in the something of the somewhere?  
That must be so confusing for little Earl?"

'Who the heck is Earl? Did I freeze him? I should freeze him. I should freeze every Earl regardless of height! HEY! Brain what did I tell you? No genocide... or... er name-o-cide? No cide what so ever young cerebellum! Now go to your room, no dinner for you!' the ice king mentally fought himself as the penguins gave each other questioning looks.

"And I know that you're going to need me here with a shoe?  
But, I'm losing my own and I'm afraid you're gonna lose the left one, too

This magic keeps me alive  
But, it's making me bushy  
And, I need to shave you  
But, why are you so hairy?  
Please forgive me for whatever I stew  
When I cook something for you?"

Much to the relief of the audience the ice king slowed to a stop letting the keyboard play on while he looked at the penguins deeply confused. But to help him save face they applauded his effort.

"Oh stop it. I know it was terrible. It was way better when Marceline sung it" he justified as all but Gunter quietly shuffled away. The lone penguin gently patted his leg as she let out a very sympathetic "Wenk".

The king turned to his companion with a weak but appreciative smile sighing as he picked her up in his arms.

"I knew I should have asked Marceline to write it down" he mumbled kicking the ground pouting a little.

"Wenk"

"I could but I need to think of a reason good enough for her to let me in but I'm not talking to my brain at the moment."

"Wenk"

"Because it's my brain and I know what's best for it. I guess I have to think of some other way to lure princesses." The king yawned feeling tired but he wasn't sure why.

"Wenk"

"When you're right, you're right Gunter. I'll sleep on it or maybe just a power nap. Wake up refreshed and ready to go" he grinded enthusiastically once more before setting Gunter down and making his way to his ice bed.

Just before he drifted of he looked up to his own forehead. "You and I are going to have a serious talk when I get in there mister."


	6. And now we begin

And now we begin

Having stayed up all night, Marceline found herself with a heavy mental block. All she could think to do to kill time was think of a song or at least start thinking of one. though that help her come to one thought while thinking of her song.

'I need to know more.' That was the one thought that she had to come to terms with. She was so busy avoiding the ice king she never bothered to find out anymore than what she already knew.

That was going to change today.

"My friend for the end~" she idly hummed as she floated across Ooo hold up her umbrella. She never hated the fact that the sun can turn her into ash, in fact the idea that something can indeed kill Marceline as an immortal had its way of humbling her.

Though it was barely dawn at the moment but she didn't want anything slowing her down, not today.

She reached her destination, it didn't take her long she's been around long enough to memorise every route to any place she as ever called home.

She thought about how it was within spitting distance of the ice kingdom and how once a decade she always seemed to gravitate back to it.

She chuckled at herself, 'I'm starting to sound just as nuts as he is'

She knocked on the door for the first time in a while, it wasn't really her style to wait for permission but when asking for a favour she thought I'll be the best way to start things.

No response

She tried again only louder this time but much to her increasing irritation there was still no answer.

Marceline knew mortals liked to keep a regular sleep patterns but today of all days she had no patience as she let out an exasperated grunt.

She knocked again this time hard enough to loosen the doors hinges. It finally opened revealing a tired-eyed Finn still in his onesy pyjama yawning loudly.

"Uh... Marceline?" he squinted at her while still half asleep.

"Hey Finn" Marceline casually nodded regaining her composure.

"What time is it?" he yawned

"That doesn't matter right now, can I come in? I have something I need to talk to you guys about." she stated seriously looking into Finn's eyes.

"Err... sure" Finn said though he was now completely awake, he was still not quite understanding what was happening.

Marceline didn't care for Finn's confusion as she pushed passed him, floating into her old house. Looking around, she knew the place like the back of her palm it was still hers after all, she just liked Finn and Jake enough to allow them stay rent free, not that she had any real need for money but it still counts.

"Where's Jake?"

"Still sleeping, what was it you want to talk about?"

The Vampire Queen turned to him with a stern expression that extinguished all tones of humour.

"Finn. I need your help"

"Help?" The young human gulped. "What could we help you with?" he wondered knowing that Marceline was easily one of the powerful in Ooo, though she had no specific kingdom to speak of. All of Ooo knew of her family ties and the fact she could raise the dead on a sheer whim, so it was a generally good idea to be on the queen's good side.

"Yes Finn, you and Jake are going to help me brake into the ice castle."

Finn was silent, shocked, for a moment. "...and?"

The vampire deadpanned "And? And what? I'm talking about invading the Ice king's castle, you know the crazy old man who could start a new ice age if something seriously ticked him off enough."

He shrugged "I don't know anything about all that but me and Jake sneak in there all the time, look we have it schedged for next Monday." Finn gestured to a calendar that was next his fridge.

"Oh" Marceline responded failing to think of anything better. Slumped down on a chair the brothers kept in the kitchen.

Finn just walked to the kitchen to start making breakfast, fully accepting that helping a friend comes before going back to sleep.

"So why do you want to go to the ice king's anyway?"

Marceline just sighed. "I don't know, I guess I wanted to find out more about what the crown did to him and just how much."

"Why?"

She shrugged "no idea. It's just yesterday was the first time I ever learned that the crown was driving him nutso"

"So what did you think was happening to him?"

"I just thought he was just being old you know? But now I know different, it feels like... I don't know, like I can do something about it, if I just knew more."

"So you want to turn the ice king back in to Simon?"

"I'm not sure what I want and anyway I get the feeling that if the ice king could be simply turned back into Simon then it would have happened already."

"If you're not sure on what you want then why do you want to go sneaking around in the ice castle. Wouldn't it be easier if you knew what you wanted to find?"

"That's true but... it's hard to explain Finn, see Simon was like my best friend for the longest time, I mean he did everything he could for me and now I just feel like I took advantage of that. Like I thought I was his friend but then as it turns out he was like a super friend compared to me. I guess that's kinda why I want to go looking for something. It's like if I know there was and still is nothing I could do to help then I'll accept the way things are..."

"but if there is...?"

"...if there is, then, then I'll do whatever I need to. I at least owe Simon that much for being with me while the world ended."

Finn placed a warm hand on Marceline's cold shoulder. "Marceline, from what I saw on the tapes, see how much the crown was messing the ice king up. I don't think he would have remembered you as much as he has if you weren't his super friend as well"

The vampire smirked at how stupid _"super friend"_ sounded but she understood what the human was telling her. "thanks Finn" she smiled though still feeling stupid for thinking it was such a big deal.

'I guess I should try it on my own' she resided to herself before Finn sat down with his breakfast and looked at her with an eager but goofy smile.

"So when do we go?"


	7. Depending on lost friends

Depending on lost friends

"Are you sure we have to do this?" Marceline complained from under her umbrella as she grudgingly followed the adventurous duo.

"Marceline we all agreed that this was the best idea we came up with" Finn explained just as foully as he was asked, putting his hands behind his head as he walked. He secretly wished that they were doing Jake's pickle flood idea.

Jake on the other hand was the only one who wasn't in a bad mood. He had no problems with the current plan other than it weren't his but that just meant more pickles for him. He was still curious, not about Finn he knew why Finn didn't like the plan, he wasn't the most subtle when it came to his feelings but Marceline was a different story.

"What is it between you two anyway?" the dog asked the vampire queen.

"I **don't** want to talk about it" she replied with enough hate and coldness that it made Jake feel like he was going to spontaneously combust and freeze to death at the same time.

He just whistled and turned back around not willing to admit that he was currently quivering more than jelly in a paint mixer.

Marceline sighed to herself hating the plan as much as Finn but for different reasons. The plan itself made enough sense. The ice king was harmless and lonely enough that if he wasn't up to anything he would probably let all 3 of them in if they ask. However the odds of him getting in the way of what they needed to do was too high to risk. They were going to have to search his entire ice castle just in case he had something that might help in turning him back into Simon.

This meant they needed him distracted and after the obvious shiny object jokes the trio settle on the best option to lure the king out.

And while pretty much anyone could do this there was really only one who would assure complete distraction but this would be a hard thing to ask anyone, not just someone Marceline was at odds with. She'll be the first to admit that she did make it a bad habit to burn bridges but she hoped this one was at least salvageable enough for her old friend to consider her idea.

As the three entered Candy Kingdom, two of them silently thought while knowing the answer 'Why did it have to be _her_?'

In the mist of her experiments to better the life of all her candy subjects, princess Bubblegum who was only pulled away from her thoughts by a cold shiver down her spine.

"An unknown darkness looms ever closer." Her sentient mold experiment spoke before quivering and combusting into ash.

"Hmm"

A knock at her door broke her thought.

"Yes?"

"Finn, Jake and Mar-ow! I mean Finn and Jake are here to visit you Princess" one of her banana gaurds suspiciously replied.

'Mar-ow? Hmm something doesn't sound right but it's Finn and Jake I can trust them but then again ominous sentient mold experiments rarely lie'

"Please let them in" she said as she took her notes making sure she could return to her projects after what Finn and Jake wanted to talk about.

She planned to smile when they walked in but that smile was quickly replaced by an awkward and unsure twist when she saw Marceline who couldn't even look in her general direction.

Finn and Jake silently debated who would talk first and break the dramatic silence with elbow prods.

And because he couldn't just simply use his magic powers to absorb the prods, Fin was the one who spoke out.

"H-hey umm peebles."

The scientific Princess turned her attention to Fin thinking that if she just said yes to whatever they asked the awkwardness would end quick enough.

"What is it Fin?" she asked with a stern tone not exactly in the mood for the normal pleasantries she had with the brothers. Her history with Marceline just meant it was better all those involved if they just stayed clear of each other. 'She should know this, so why is she here? Hmm must be messing with Fin again.'

The person in question was currently producing a small puddle of perspiration "Well you see princess. We need you- I mean if you're cool with it, it'll be totally math if you, umm... we have this plan and..."

"Wait Fin I'll do it." Marceline interjected partly because it felt like getting someone else to do her dirty work. The other reason was because Fin looked like he was going to wet himself and she wanted to be the one who did that.

"You see Bonnibel, sorry, I mean Princess Bubblegum" she struggled to say through gritted teeth but even then the Princess was taken aback by the effort. Marceline had never called her by her title without sarcasm and while strained it was an honest try.

'Perhaps I was wrong in suspecting them of something foul'

"We need you to go on a date... with the Ice King"

"... I see"

At this moment all the Princesses training in poise and composure strained as she calmly took off her white lab coat folding over her office chair, set her glasses down and undid her ponytail readjusting her tiara. She made sure she looked the very image of the prefect princess her subjects expected.

Before screaming at the top of her lungs.

"GUARDS!"

3 Banana Guards rushed into the room just managing to squeeze through the door.

"YES Princess?"

"Restrain Fin, Jake and Marceline their minds have obviously been flawarped as some part of a heinous plan of the Ice King."

The Banana guards obeyed and restrained the trio.

"Hey! What the?"

"Whoa man, Not cool!"

Finn and Jake protested but Marceline just kept eye contact with Princess Bubblegum. Though the vampire Queen could easily break out the banana guard's hold and break the banana guard in general but she didn't so much as struggle.

"You got it wrong Bonnibel. It's Me, just me asking here, no Ice King and... I have my reasons" she stated genuinely desperate and never breaking eye contact.

The Princess looked into Marceline's eyes then to her guard.

"Guards please release them."

"but Princess-"

"I won't repeat myself"

The giant bananas complied with the Princess and let them go before leaving the room.

"Fin, Jake can you please leave me and Marceline alone for a few minutes?" she asked the brothers though her tone implied it was no question.

The two nodded, silently edging out of the room to enjoy a _not as_ awkward moment with the banana guards.

Alone in the room, Marceline and Bonnibel stood there. The vampire Queen was blushing over her sudden emotional burst unsure what else to say.

"Bonny I-" She started only to be paused by the Princess raising her palm. Normally she wouldn't follow such social ques but this situation was far beyond her comfort zone.

"Marceline, I don't know what your intentions are or even what your goal is. And as Princess it would be unfair to my people who trust me so much to do something so insane without reason"

Marceline hung her head in shame thinking that she was going to have to share her past with Bonnibel the _one_ person she didn't want feeling pity for her.

"What I do know is that you're one of the oldest beings in all of Ooo, a troublemaker who knows the line, always looking the big picture and even though you're actions maybe look questionable at the start they're always for the benefit of others."

She let a large sigh and relaxed her posture. "So I ask you: do I have to question you as Princess Candy Kindom or can I trust your judgement as my friend?"

The Vampire Queen just looked up at the Princess and smiled warmly.


End file.
